19 Comments

Any counter to NYT Nicolas Kristof labeling “elites” implying all “Trump” voters are non elites. The Trump voters I know are all very well educated racist greedy elites.

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Interesting that Trump and Vance did not attend any Labor Day observances today. The campaign said Trump was preparing for the upcoming debate —a transparent and highly unlikely excuse. I think the campaign was trying to avoid embarrassing, negative publicity at this key point in the presidential campaign. Vance got booed just this week when he addressed firefighter-union members in Boston. Thin-skinned Trump got loudly and repeatedly — and rightfully — criticized as a “scab” at the DNC, just weeks after he gave high praise to union busting in a highly publicized conversation he had his buddy and major union-buster, Elon Musk. Let’s see if any of the corporate media connect the dots about why the GOP team stayed home. I’m not betting on it.

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Yo are a dear and patriotic American.. The values that you display are the only ones that make America really great. Where we all share in the good that the US can provide. Love you for it and I want more people with a voice that can be heard speak as you do.

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Sep 2·edited Sep 2Liked by David Rothkopf

Labor Unions gave me the wages and benefits allowing me as a single mom to return to college and start a new career. They changed my life, and my daughter and grandchildren’s lives because I entered a world of better wages, and with the increased standard of living, my family benefited and AND I also returned those benefits to future generations by paying more taxes my entire career. Labor Unions bring equity and opportunities. Thank you for reminding us of their incredible importance.

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The old game of the rich and Republicans pitting the middle class against the lower class lives by suffocation of everyone outside the favored few. The middle class and the poor have more in common than either have with the rich.

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In today's world, with it's glut of information, there is absolutely no reason to accept the wealth disparity other than greed, avarice and human nature of our society.

I am comfortable, I make a good wage, I don't mind paying my taxes. Profit is not a dirty word. The absolute usery of low wage income or monopoly "rents" by the wealthy I should be taxed at an appropriate level.

Good government beget good societies.

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Sep 2Liked by David Rothkopf

This is just a little piece of Americana on this subject. Airplanes were my life for almost 48 years now. I have been retired 16 years but have a pension that is in trust and the travel pass. Flight attendants I was one for thirty two years through six presidents from Jimmy Carter to Obama’s election and pilots and flight attendants along with air traffic controllers who have a huge union we are organized under the Railway Act and the Dept of Transportation. Secretary Pete is our boss lol. Forgive run on sentences and grammar. Abraham Lincoln did the first Railway Act in 1962. The nation’s railroads were built. If you remember when Trump shut down the government for his border wall and then stole billions for base housing from the military budget to build his wall which he did not build it was Christmas and air traffic controllers were working free. The airlines and railroads as well as bus lines don’t have Labor Day off. To shut down the nations transportation shuts down the global economy like Trump did with Prince Jared Kushner from the Oval Office on March 12, 2020 without telling the Pentagon. He almost did it with the Muslim ban because ships are transportation. And he shut down JFK on a Sunday with Steve Bannon and threw the globe into mortal danger. It could be like Putin invading Ukraine. This is not hyperbole. So when you support Harris Walz remember this it is life or death always with Trump with you and your family so make sure they read this. I was following it on twitter in real time. Just like covid was going to go away before Trump killed a million people. So Trump and his insane group of enablers besides being blithering trust fund nepotism babies had your life in their tiny hands remember no toilet paper? Airplanes carry the US Mail worldwide. Commercial carriers move troops into theaters of war. In the Middle East it is through Kuwait. We have huge military bases in the Middle East. My whole point is to inform. Saving democracy is over used and overblown. It is to save your life past November 5th 2024. And it was air traffic controllers when he shut down the govt at Christmas for thirty days and Schumer and Pelosi went to see him who slowed down airports so hard with air traffic control stops that DC to New York shut down. Pilots and flight attendants were on Delta jets for you our fellow Americans. And Homeland Security was stood up in days off the Patriot Act because of 9/11 and I flew another seven years after 9/11. So thank your crewmembers. We give up Christmas so you can get to yours. ❤️✈️🇺🇸

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Sep 2·edited Sep 2Liked by David Rothkopf

If I could like this a thousand times, I would like this a thousand times. Long, long time ago, like when I was in college, ca. 1973, I wrote a column for one of the student papers called "Private Profit, Public Problem." One of my student government buddies, a double economics and poli sci major, told me I didn't get it. I respected this guy, so I spent a couple of years reading and wondering what I was missing. I eventually concluded that I wasn't missing much, and the last several decades have proven me right.

The right wants to turn it into a "culture war" because they do not (NOT NOT NOT) want us to think in economic terms. To talk economics is to get trashed as an anti-American commie pinko socialist. Labor leaders, being at high risk of this, have contorted themselves over the decades to prove their capitalist "free market" bona fides -- and the Reaganites trashed them anyway. And look where we are now. Harris et al. have to talk about "rebuilding the middle class" and that's OK because talking about "redistribution of wealth" or "economic justice" would freak too many people out, but that's what's going on here.

What remains to be seen is what the unelected fourth branch of government -- the wealthy and the big corporations -- will say/do when they realize we're coming at them not with pitchforks but with a lot of pissed-off people who vote.

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Sep 2Liked by David Rothkopf

I love your kicker, David. Wish I had thought of it.

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Sep 2Liked by David Rothkopf

As we work to build the opportunity future that is the promise of America, let’s also relearn some basic principles for a healthy society. It’s important to distinguish between ‘wanting’ and ‘needing.’ Making a living doesn’t necessarily mean making a killing. The difference between fiction (movies, tv, novels, etc.) and reality is time; ‘overnight success’ is a euphemism for ‘took less time than we thought’. The changes to our society that will lift us all up will not happen overnight, so we must be patient AND persistent. Finally, there’s no point in having rules and laws if they aren’t enforced fairly. While it is not a crime to be rich, getting there by cheating and

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Sep 2Liked by David Rothkopf

...oppressing others is wrong and should be punished.

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Sep 2Liked by David Rothkopf

It’s also worth remembering that a lot of this country was built by African immigrants who came involuntarily to its shores. Once ‘emancipated’, many of them continued to help build our country’s infrastructure despite an initially hostile response to African-American inclusion in unions.

It’s always interesting and often frustrating to me when ‘welfare’ connotes undeserved government subsidies to individuals, most of whom are minorities. Corporate welfare has been around much longer and continues to subsidize large corporations and entire economic sectors long after the start-up companies became profitable and successful. The extractive industry is one of the best examples of this with mining and oil exploration/production being the largest beneficiaries.

Wanna get rid of welfare? Start where it began.

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*Are* most welfare recipients members of minority groups? Every time the subject comes up, it turns out that a significant majority of welfare recipients are white.

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Don’t confuse me with facts! 🙃

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Lol. Facts mess a lot of people up. <g>

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Sep 2Liked by David Rothkopf

An article in WaPo today notes that Trump is considering appointing Musk to a position where he would be responsible for audits of federal agencies.

Both men are national security threats, and they both appear to be above the law.

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Omg that would be awful

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Sep 2Liked by David Rothkopf

As we build the opportunities that are the promise of America, we have to be cognizant of the notion that making a living doesn’t mean making a killing. There are different ideas of what constitutes ‘need’ versus ‘want’. The offense isn’t to be rich, it’s to become rich by depriving others, and by abdicating responsibilities

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deletedSep 2
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Sorry, I don’t recall Pelosi lovingly recalling Reagan’s name

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